


the moon, or the wine, or the war

by onlyeverthus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-20 00:13:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2408081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyeverthus/pseuds/onlyeverthus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>War changes people, makes them do things they might not normally do, and perhaps this is one of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the moon, or the wine, or the war

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago as a fill on a comment fic thing on LJ, figured I'd post it here too. Also includes references to James/Lily and the other Marauders.

_don't you wish that we could forget that kiss  
and see this for what it is  
that we're not in love_

Neither of them knows how it happens.

It's a dinner party, quite small, but with good wine, and good friends, and when she goes into the garden to get some air, he follows.

She smiles when she sees him. He can be a little tiresome sometimes, but war has softened him a little, as it has everyone, and he's not as conceited as he used to be. There's still a little bit of that cockiness in his eyes, though, and in the way his dark hair falls with carefully affected casualness, and he smirks a little as he walks towards her.

The moonlight catches her hair, making the deep, rich red shine brilliantly, and though she is his best friend's girlfriend, his fingers have always itched to touch it.

Maybe there's something there, and maybe there isn't, but there's James, always James, and they both love him too much to hurt him.

Something makes him move closer to her, though. Maybe it's the moon, or the wine, or her smile, or the lingering threat of death hanging over their heads. War changes people, makes them do things they might not normally do, and perhaps this is one of them.

He says something that makes her laugh and he joins her, and even though it's not really that funny, before long they're in hysterics, her back pressed against the trellis and his hand braced beside her head.

Their laughter dies down and he looks up at her, still grinning. Her lips are curved as well, her green eyes shining with mirth, and his smile falters a little. She stares back at him, her breath hitching a little as she studies his eyes, gray and intense and somehow so deep.

There's talking and laughter from inside the house, James, Remus, and Peter, and other friends from the village, but they all sound so far away because he's here, moving closer and into her space.

She tilts her head up to look at him, her gaze flicking between his eyes and his mouth, and his breath is warm on her lips just before he presses his to hers.

There's a beat and then her lips part, her hand rising to his neck as she catches his bottom lip between hers.

The kiss breaks, but neither of them move, their breath mixing between them, warm and wet, and then his mouth is on hers again. His hand rises to her hair and his fingers dive into the thick strands, twisting around his fingers as he cradles the side of her head. He tugs gently on it, unintentionally, and a tiny sound slips from her mouth into his as her teeth scrape over his bottom lip.

They pull apart suddenly, his hand still in her hair and hers on his neck, and stare at each other for a moment.

And then he's moving away, jamming his hands into his pockets as he stammers an apology, unable to quite believe what he just did.

She apologizes as well, a little breathless as she runs a hand through her hair and looks away from him.

They laugh a little nervously, dismissing it as just a consequence of too much wine

_or the moon, or the war, or her smile; all of the above; none of the above_

and head back inside, where he goes off to find Remus, and she wraps her arms around James.

He finds a few strands of red hair wrapped around his fingers later and frowns as he pulls them away, noticing how they shine before he lets them float to the floor.

They never speak of it again, and he happily stands up for James at their wedding, but he wonders from time to time, and thinks she does too, if there could have ever been more.  



End file.
